Designer babies - are they ethical?

How many times have you wished that somehow, some part of you were eradicated/different? Many people tend to dislike some part of themselves, which is why 'Designer Babies' could be introduced. For those who don't know, a designer baby has genetic make-up selected in ordered to abolish a particular defect, or to insure that a particular gene is present. As great as it may seem initially, there are a series of ethical/moral issues that lie behind the prospect. The fact of the matter is – the procedure is not even 100% safe yet, so the procedure is rather risky at this point in time. However, the controversial topic has to be discussed for the future of medical ethics.

One of the most common opposing arguments include the fact that the procedure is not cheap and not everyone can afford it.  It costs around $50,000 in the US alone, therefore only the well-off families could afford such an amount. Not only could this create a prominent line between ‘Designer’ and ‘Non-designer’ children, but the ‘non designer’ children could miss out on life-changing opportunities. For example, jobs among other things are more likely to take the optimum candidate (i.e the designer baby, who might have an intelligence-boosting gene etc..). This will immediately create a gap in society, between the ‘designer’ babies who are better looking, more smarter etc and the ‘non-designer’ who will feel inadequate and inferior. Induviduality will be barely present, because lots of people would be relatively similar. If the process is not done carefully, the embryo could be accidentally terminated – which is why there is a huge risk factor involved. Another prominent argument is that parents may use the technology for superficial purposes. These superficial purposes include seeking out a blonde haired, blue eyed baby for appearance concerns only – which is morally wrong for the sake of individuality. In addition, you could end up with a genius, but a very angry child. This is because a gene that controls intelligence could also control anger management. Therefore, what you desire in a child could actually create unwanted problems in the long term.

Although all these problems could arise, there are also a range of benefits that highlight the topic around designer babies. For example, parents can give their children a healthy life by eliminating any re-occuring illnesses that run in the family. This aspect would increase children’s life span up to 30 years! Likewise, Parents can also request to abolish any defects they may have so their children don’t have to live with it too. This would most likely make the child happier as well as reduce their chances of developing autism, Alzheimers, Huntington’s disease, and many more. Additionally, inherited conditions such as obesity, anemia, diabetes and cancer could all be prevented too. Notably, if designer babies were reinforced, genealogists and biologists would have a better understanding of genetics. Overall, designer babies would keep up with modern technologies and enhance children’s lives for the better.

My impression on this topic so far, is that designer babies should only be required for preventing illnesses or medical defects that might run in the family. I believe the line should be drawn when parents ask for their child to have an altered appearance to fit their ideal. The child won’t nessasarily want to look the way their parents wanted either – which is not fair on them. Why should we ask for them to look a certain way? After all, Induviduality is vital and we need it more and more everyday. It’s what makes us special. It’s what makes humans people. It’s what creates culture.

Why I went on the anti-austerity March

I once heard a quote, 'create a life you don't need a vacation from'. Easier said than done. Having been on a March against austerity yesterday, I faced the true reality. The realisation that over 1 million people needed food banks last year, 370,000 of them being children. Fundamentally - children are being deprived of even the most satisfactory of upbringings. How can we create lives we don't need vacations from, when people can't even afford a standard meal for their children? The Conservative cuts are slowly and slyly crumbling the lives of the most vulnerable, and it has to come to an end.

Like a lot of people, when I first heard about austerity, I thought 'Great, get the deficit down so we have nothing to worry about!'. However, in hindsight, making cuts to public services, wages, benefits, is also cutting people's happiness. People will have less money to spend when shopping, which means buisnesses make lower profits, which means less taxes are paid. It's certainly not the way forward, and critised by economists - the people who really know what's best for the economy! An article in the independent shows that 2/3 of economists say that austerity has damaged the economy. 

The reason I went on the anti-austerity demonstration in the end, is because poverty is a crisis can't be slyly dismissed by our own prime minister any longer. I'd like to see him Living off the minimum wage for a week. 

Although austerity doesn't affect me, it affects others. The 37% of people who acctually like conservatives do so, because they don't drastically get affected like millions do. They have no idea how many people can't find jobs, those who can't get houses, how many people have been hit with the bedroom tax, people who struggle to bring food to the table, people who can't afford meals for their children, nurses and teachers working tireless hours being underpaid. Millions and millions of people suffer in the UK from the cuts. It may not be you, but have some integrity - the cuts could cut you're happiness, too.